How I'm Making The Most Out Of Summer 2020



Hello everyone!

Welcome back to my blog. As we all know, summer 2020 is going to be very different- at least for the first half of it. The country I live in is still enforcing strict lockdown rules- meaning my summer is not going to be the same. No late-night trips with friends. No family lunches. Even doing some of the most normalised summer activities, such as going to the cinema, are now threats to our health. In this post, I'm going to be talking about how I'm feeling about this situation and what I'm doing about it. 

I am a British expat living in the Middle East (stay tuned for another blog post about my personal situation and what it's like). Every summer, I go back to the UK for two and a half months and spend my summer there. To me, it's not a holiday, it's going home. Even though I have been living here for ten years (and I'm almost fifteen), the UK has something that the Middle East lacks for me: extended family. The other day, I was feeling quite upset about the whole situation and how I'm not going to be able to see the rest of my family for another year. 

I appreciate that there are worse things going on in the world at the moment, and I understand that these travel bans and restrictions are there for our safety. But that in itself doesn't make me feel much better. So, here are things I'm going to be doing in order to try making this summer as enjoyable as it can be.

1. Plan. Plan. Plan

I am not a very spontaneous person. Without some sort of plan/routine for the day, I end up wasting my time scrolling through Instagram. By the end of the day, I'm not in a good headspace and I struggle to fall asleep. So, instead of falling into that mentally draining cycle, I'm going to give myself some sort of timetable and write a to-do list every morning. It's not going to be too uptight because, I mean, it's summer. There is also plenty of time for me to watch some TV, text my friends, talk to my family and just chill. It's just a rough plan to give myself something to do rather than sit around on Twitter all day. 





2. Schoolwork

I know, I know. It's the summer holidays. Why should I spend my summer studying, just like I would do all-year-round? Well, what with e-learning, I haven't been able to learn as much this year as I would usually. For some subjects, I don't even have any notes. This is quite problematic as I'm going into Year 11 in the British system- meaning I have to sit my GCSEs at the end of next year and I'm already halfway through the course, theoretically, as we start studying for them in Year 10. I'm not doing anything too strenuous (I don't want to burn out), just an hour and a half per day. At this point, it's not even about getting a headstart. It's about making sure I don't fall behind. 



3. Read and Write

I've always loved reading and writing, and with all this extra time, I'm finally able to spend more time doing these things. I have a long reading list, including classics by Jane Austen and many YA books. Let me know of any other good YA books in the comments! I'm also dedicating a lot more time to writing: I'm going to consistently blog, write for an online magazine and my friend and I are working on fanfiction. 


4. Self-teach myself the keyboard

A little while ago, my grandma bought me a keyboard but I never really properly learnt how to play it. It's not a 'proper' one (it only has around 44 keys) but it works well enough for me. I'm quite an independent learner and I always learn better when I teach myself, so I've been intending to teach myself for a while now but I've never had the time. Obviously, I have more time now so I found myself tutorials on YouTube for absolute beginners and I'm determined to learn how to play the keyboard. If you've taught yourself how to play the keyboard (or any other instrument), please give me some tips!



5. Workout

I've never been the fittest person I could be- I end up out of breath when I run up a flight of stairs! Because of this lockdown, I knew I was going to be moving even less than I normally do unless I take matters into my own hands. I've looked up home beginner-friendly workouts on YouTube and am currently on day 6 of Chloe Ting's 2-week shred program. It's hard- but I'm already seeing a difference in my body and shape!



6. Practise languages

I'm currently taking both Spanish and French GCSE subjects, and it's vital that I don't fall behind on any of them, particularly Spanish. While I have been doing French since I was eight (almost half my life!) I only started Spanish this year, and we're essentially cramming five years of content into two years. So, it's essential I don't fall behind. I also don't want to spend the summer learning just Spanish so that I completely forget my French when I go back to school. I've been watching Netflix shows in Spanish but I haven't found any good ones in French, so if anyone knows of any, help me out, please! I'm using Quizlet for vocabulary flashcards and am spending around 20 minutes a day practising. If anyone knows useful websites for French or Spanish learners (preferably IGCSE specific resources), please let me know.



7. Watch some Netflix

I've never really been into watching TV shows, but now I'm obsessed. There are a bunch of good TV shows I want to binge-watch this summer. I'm currently watching Teen Wolf, Las Chicas del Cable (Cable girls) and Sherlock and I want to watch The IT Crowd, TVD and Outer Banks. Do you guys have any other recommendations?

8. Blog consistently. 

As I've mentioned in the third point, I want to blog a lot more. I have a growing list of teen/lifestyle blog posts I want to publish, so please let me know in the comments anything you think I should write about. Also, I'm very new to this so any tips will be appreciated. Leave your blog in the comments so I can check it out!

So, there you have it. How I'm trying to keep myself as busy and productive as I can be so that I don't go insane! Please subscribe by pressing the bottom at the top of your page and, as I said before, leave your blogs in the comments so that we can support each other. Also, don't forget to follow my Twitter: @alishascornerxx. I follow everyone back and it's a way for us to connect!

Stay safe,

Alisha xx 


 
 






Comments

  1. lifestyleseason1 June 2020 at 04:38

    Great post! I am also trying to exercise, learn Spanish and continue to exercise!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alisha1 June 2020 at 09:26

      I'm glad you liked the post! Good luck with your goals xx

      Delete

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